Late last month, Raleigh NC was host to one of the biggest gatherings of game developers on the east coast. The aptly-named East Coast Games Conference (ECGC) wrapped up its seventh installment in April, but this was only the second year with events that actually catered to the game audio community. Lucky us!
North Carolina is where you’ll find the biggest hub for video game developers on the east coast. Surprised? I was too, and I’ve lived here all my life! On April 20th, thousands will flock to the Raleigh Convention Center for the 8th East Coast Games Conference—but despite being the largest gathering of devs this side of the Mississippi, the conference is still under the radar for many.
While the East Coast Games Conference (ECGC for short) has been a strong meeting grounds for programmers, artists, and writers, the audio scene has been lacking.
That all changed last year, when the conference introduced its first-ever audio track: a series of talks, panels and events aimed at the game audio community. I had the pleasure of attending last year’s ECGC, and it was a life-changing experience. I met so many talented composers, musicians, sound designers—it made me realize, yes I do want to spend the rest of my life in cahoots with these crazy individuals.
Last year the conference attracted composers like Jason Graves (Dead Space, Far Cry Primal) and sound designers like Akash Thakkar (Hyper Light Drifter) to talk about getting into the games industry, negotiating work as a freelancer, advanced sound design techniques and more.
This year’s roster for the audio track includes:
Additional speakers will be announced soon. They’ll be talking about everything from VR audio innovations to arcade games, which means ECGC 2016 is shaping up to be a fantastic event for game audio.
If you can’t make it this year, you can live vicariously through me as I cover the event on Twitter. Be on the lookout for a wrap-up of all the audio events after ECGC ends, April 22nd.
Mr. Hassan DuRant is a composer out of North Carolina and a guest writer for OSV. All information and opinions are his own.
This year we saw a lot of amazing games. Not only were there a lot of big anticipated titles like Fallout 4, Metal Gear Solid V, and The Witcher 3, there were some great titles from smaller developers like Undertale, Ori and the Blind Forest, Life is Strange, and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. Of course with many of these games we also got some excellent soundtracks.
More than previous years, it’s been incredibly hard for me to pick just a few from the many great soundtracks that were released this year. It goes to show just how much talent there is out there in the game industry for creating memorable game music and audio. With so many artists and albums worth mentioning, I will have runners up and some special mentions included in my list. So without further fanfare, here are my personal picks for 2015’s Game Soundtrack of the Year and Arrangement Album of the Year. (more…)
Happy New Year everyone! It may be the start of a new month, but I still had one more winter themed remix that I wanted to share before going back to this series’ usual broader selection of game music remixes.
For our final installment of the winter and holiday themed Arrangement of the Week, we’re going to take a listen to another chill synth mix of some winter themed game music. This time it’s a remix by DCT of the track “Take The Snow Train” from NiGHTS into Dreams… titled “The Polar Express.”
The centerpiece of this entire track is the electric piano. It sets up a nice relaxing mood that is further established by the other instruments, particularly the synth elements. While the pads and other synth effects do a nice job of filling up the soundscape, the percussion has a very clean and up-close sound that contrasts surprisingly well against the other instruments. The kick drum is just a touch too loud in some sections for my taste, but it’s in no way a deal breaker.
Like many of the pieces that were in this winter and holiday themed Arrangement of the Week series, this remix is fairly simple. Nothing too dramatic happens in the mix, and this helps maintain a chill tone throughout the track’s duration. Once again, just a pleasant and simple wintery remix.
Did you find any cool winter themed videogame remixes, arrangements, or covers that you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments below. You can check out DCT’s “The Polar Express” on OC ReMix.
Here on the Arrangement of the Week we’ve had a lot of the metal rock entries. So this week I thought it would be a good change of pace to feature a cover from a different rock sub-genre. Enter our chiptune rock arrangement of the Donkey Kong Country 3 track “Hot Pursuit” from artists jmr and streifig, who make up the duo Marshall Art.
The soundtrack to Donkey Kong Country 3 has an interesting history. Most notably that it has two completely different soundtracks. The SNES version was mostly written by Eveline Fischer, while the Game Boy Advance version has a completely reworked soundtrack by David Wise. This arrangement of the DK3 track “Hot Pursuit” is from the former and is titled “My Monkey Drives a Maserati.”
The track takes off right from the start, evoking much of the same energy present in the original piece. At first the chiptune instruments dominate the track, but the electric guitar and drums steadily build a presence. At various points, like the 1’30” and 2’30” mark, the synth instruments drop out to allow the guitars to have the spotlight. In each instance they act as brief interludes that contrast well with the rest of the arrangement.
What I enjoy about the track is the overall blending of the chiptune sounds with the modern rock instruments. The track sounds like it could exist as an actual track within the game. As I mentioned, the chiptune elements start off as the primary sound source, but the guitars eventually find space to show off and really add to the piece. All in all, it’s a fun arrangement with plenty of energy.
Have you heard any good chiptune rock covers, arrangements, or remixes this week? Feel free to share them with us in the comments below. You can check out Marshall Art’s “My Monkey Drives a Maserati” on OC ReMix.
For this entry of Arrangement of the Week, we’ll be looking at an arrangement from a more recent game. The Last of Us, like many great games, boasts a wonderful score. The game’s main theme “The Last of Us” is a beautiful and mournful piece from composer Gustavo Santaolalla, that sets the mood for the game’s world and story perfectly.
The arranger for this week’s selection is nckmusic who presents his own acoustic interpretation of the main theme from The Last of Us.
Much of what nckmusic does with music isn’t too far from the tone of the original soundtrack. If anything, this version is much more solemn. The arrangement begins with the piano playing the opening arpeggios that were previously performed on guitar. When the strings come in to accompany, they create a haunting ambient boom in the lower register, helping build on the sorrowful atmosphere. At 1’37” a solo cello enters with another solemn presentation of the original melody.
What I like most about this arrangement is how small scale and intimate it stays. While later parts of the track do build up with percussion, and even a few siren effects, it maintains its haunting and somber tone throughout. Overall, a wonderful adaptation of an already excellent piece of music.
Have any favorite game music arrangements, remixes, or covers? Let us know in the comment section. You can check out nckmusic’s “The Last of Us” arrangement on OC ReMix.
For our fourth Halloween arrangement, we’ll look at another survival horror game from the PlayStation era. Resident Evil 2, or Biohazard 2 in Japan, has a number of unsettling pieces in its soundtrack, but also has a few memorable character themes. This includes music for the female assassin/agent Ada Wong.
Unlike the unnerving atmosphere created by most of the soundtrack, “Ada’s Theme” is calm and ethereal. So it should come as no surprise that it became good source material for an electronic remix. Said remix comes to us from artist ABG, and is simply titled “Ada’s Groove.”
Like the original track, the arrangement opens up with ambient synth pads. The first forty seconds introduces the main instruments that will be used for the remainder of the track. A flute like synth lead, sustained synth pads, piano and synth arpeggios, and some light electronic percussion produce a mood similar to the original but with just a bit more energy and momentum.
This arrangement actually reminded me a lot of the Metroid Prime soundtrack. Particularly the way hybrid of acoustic and electronic instruments build onto one another. My only complaint is that it feels a little too short. What’s present works well, but it did leave me wanting to hear more. Despite this, it’s a great arrangement that builds off of some simple material.
Do you have any favorite remixes, arrangements, or covers of music from the Resident Evil series? Let us know in the comments below. You can check out “Ada’s Groove” on OC Remix.
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